Brand awareness is one of the most important aspects of growing a business.
We’ve prepared a detailed guide on how you can improve brand awareness for your ecommerce store.
More specifically, we’re covering the following topics:
- How social media promotion can help you increase brand awareness
- How to use contests and giveaways online to expand your brand
- How to build links to your target pages
- How and why you should introduce a referral program
- How to engage with online communities
- How to use social ads to improve brand awareness
Let’s get right into it.
Table of Contents
Method #1: Promote Your Store on Social Media
Method #2: Run Contests & Giveaways
Method #3: Build Links Back to Your Target Pages
Method #4: Introduce a Referral Program
Method #5: Engage with Niche Communities Online
Method #1: Promote Your Store on Social Media
The first and most important action in terms of increasing brand awareness for your ecommerce business is to promote your store on social media.
I can’t stress enough how important it is to promote your store on social media in terms of improving your brand awareness.
Whether you own a small or internationally popular ecommerce store, you’ll definitely need to use the power of socials to promote it, given the high number of people that currently have social media accounts and engage with them actively.
Have a look at the bar graph below:
Image Source: Statista
The graph shows the digital population – in billions – as of summer 2020.
We understand that with such a high number of active users, social media promotion can really help companies reach out to a huge audience.
More than that, we can see that over 50% of social media users are using social media to research products, connect with their favorite brands, share brand-related content, etc:
Image Source: GlobalWebIndex
That basically means that the world’s digital population is not simply using social media platforms to share content in relation to their personal lives and connect with their friends.
On the contrary, 54% of active users are actively following and engaging with brands on social media.
Buffer’s statistics on the state of social media in 2019 shows us just how important social media platforms are to a company’s overall marketing strategy.
Image Source: Buffer
With around 60% of marketers stating that social media is playing a significant role in terms of their marketing strategy, we’re getting a clear message about how impactful and effective incorporating social media into a marketing strategy can be.
Social media platforms provide a space for ecommerce stores to advertize their products and services in a direct way.
Let’s now go through some examples of companies that are extensively – and successfully – using their social media platforms to reach out to their audience.
Sportswear manufacturer, FILA, is one of these companies.
Image Source: Instagram
They’re using user generated content and product ads to raise awareness of what they do and expand their audience.
Please have a look at the high number of likes I’ve highlighted for you, because it gives us an idea of the level of engagement users have with the account.
Eyewear brand Finlay London is another example of a company using the power of social media to promote their products.
Image Source: Instagram
Again, you may notice the number of followers that shows us just how popular the brand is on Instagram.
The brand is using its Instagram account in smart ways to promote the lifestyle and aesthetics that it’s supporting.
This makes it easier for their audience to have a clear idea of what the brand is all about, thus making it more possible for people who relate to this lifestyle to want to connect with the brand.
New York based Menswear retailer Bonobos is another example of a brand that goes on social, more specifically on Twitter, to connect with its customers and audience, giving them access to offers and more.
Image Source: Twitter
We’ve now established that undertaking marketing tactics on social media can increase the overall effectiveness of your marketing strategy and help you raise awareness.
In the process of creating content, such as social media graphics for your accounts, like the brands we mentioned a little further up, you should try to make it as compelling and engaging as possible.
There’s a wide range of ready made, customizable templates that can form the basis of your posts, like the Instagram post templates shown below:
Author’s Note: A social media tool might help you organize your digital marketing plan.
Let’s now move on to the next way to improve brand awareness for your store.
Method #2: Run Contests & Giveaways
The second way that I believe will help you raise awareness on your business is to run contests and giveaways online.
Before I show you examples of brands that are incorporating contests and giveaways into their social media marketing strategy as a way to increase their audience and keep it engaged, let’s first talk about why contests are important.
Here’s a self-explanatory graph:
Image Source: Tailwind
As you can see, contests help social media accounts grow at a significant rate.
In fact, accounts that create and share contests with their followers grow 70% faster than accounts that are less active in terms of contests.
Impressive, isn’t it?
Moreover, the data shows us that contests are the type of social media post that get higher levels of engagement.
Have a look at the pie chart below:
Image Source: Tailwind
The vast majority of Instagram posts that get more attention and keep users engaged in the comments section are contests.
We therefore understand that contests and giveaways can really help an ecommerce store as well as any kind of small and bigger companies raise awareness and expand their audience.
Like we did in the previous section, we’re going to examine a few examples of social media contests and giveaways we’ve found online.
Here’s an example of the American brand Bobbi Brown Cosmetics:
Image Source: Instagram
The number of likes and comments is high, thus showing us that contests encourage user participation and keep them engaged.
Paris-based tea brand, Kusmi Tea is another successful example of a brand that’s getting more and more visibility through their social media accounts.
Image Source: Instagram
And one last example of an Instagram giveaway post that hit almost 16,000 likes, coming from Swedish socks manufacturer, Happy Socks.
Image Source: Instagram
All these contest and giveaway posts show us just how engaging such types of posts can be in terms of how your audience interacts with your brand, but also in terms of giving back to them for their love and support of your company.
When running contests on your social media accounts, you can choose between giving away promotional products or giving your own products as prizes.
In any case, remember that your posts need to look fabulous and eye-catching, like in the examples I’ve shown you.
You could consider using social media ads and post templates and customize them in order to match your brand aesthetic, color palette, style, etc.
These can save you time and money, as well as help you create stylistically consistent social media content, which enhances brand awareness.
Keep reading to find the next method I have for you.
Method #3: Build Links Back to Your Target Pages
Building links back to some of your target pages is another way I suggest for improving brand awareness.
Building links to target pages – which in the case of an ecommerce store are most probably product pages – can help you increase the domain rating (DR) of your website, which in a few words, makes your website more powerful and authoritative.
To do so, you need to make sure that your content is linkable, which means that it’s interesting and engaging, thus making it more likely for people to link back and refer to, as well as share it on social media.
A Backlinko study on 912 million blog posts gives us great insights into what kind of content gets more links than others.
Have a look at the bar chart below:
Image Source: Backlinko
As you can see, engaging types of posts, such as the “why posts”, “what posts”, video, and infographics are the four most popular types of posts in terms of acquiring links, which can help you improve your brand awareness.
Ahrefs gives us additional information in relation to the type of visual content that helps companies get more links.
Image Source: Ahrefs
Again, we see that it’s all about content that catches the attention of the audience, in this case infographics, graphs, maps, etc., that gets the links and therefore increases your DR.
Author’s Note: You could think about combining your link building tactics in terms of the type of content you’re sharing online, with the power of link building software that can save you both time and money in the process of acquiring more links and increasing brand visibility and brand awareness.
In case you don’t have a designer in-house but you still want to be able to create compelling visual content that your audience will not only engage with but will want to share with the world, you might find it helpful to make infographics online, hassle free.
I’m showing you the infographics templates below so you can get an idea of the capabilities visual content gives you in regards to being imaginative and publishing original content that’ll wow your audience.
In addition to this, you might want to think about blog post templates that you can personalize and use them for your own purpose.
Put another way, interesting, well-made, and thought out content will help you make your content a success and attract links which basically help you grow.
In creating it, try to take advantage of any available resources.
The last tip before we go to the next section would be to consider using a chatbot on your website to send visitors to product pages.
Let’s now move on to method #4.
Method #4: Introduce a Referral Program
Another way I have for you is to introduce a referral program.
Referral programs help bring more people in and get them to know your business better, thus increasing brand awareness.
There’s lots of benefits when it comes to referral programs, both for the brand and the client.
First of all, your website and ecommerce store gets organic traffic by way of new users. You can drive even more traffic by building your referral program into your website using tools like Woo Commerce plugins or QR codes.
Additionally, your clients have the opportunity to share their love for your brand with their friends and family by not only giving them discounts and offers, but also being rewarded for sharing their love.
This keeps them motivated and engaged in terms of wanting to share their experience.
Here’s a fantastic image that shows how word of mouth helps a company grow.
Image Source: Slideshare
I believe that the following flow chart will help you visualize how referrals work.
Have a look:
Image Source: Talkable
It comes as no surprise that a discount or coupon gives ‘the friend’ motivation to go to your website and make a purchase.
Because referrals can be so beneficial for a company’s growth, they are also extensively used by companies that wish to drive more people to their websites and, eventually, get them to buy something or start using their services.
The list of companies that have used referral programs or are currently using them is long.
We’re going to focus on a few examples that’ll make my point a bit more clear.
Airbnb introduced one of the most popular and effective referral programs.
Image Source: Airbnb
More specifically, this is a double-sided referral program which basically means that both the person receiving the referral and the person sending out referrals get a discount.
As you can imagine, this significantly benefits the company, given that the discount is activated when one books accommodation with Airbnb.
ASOS is another example of an ecommerce business that runs a very successful referral program.
Image Source: ASOS
The company is expanding its audience and raises awareness about its products by offering a double-sided referral program which gives 15% off to the existing customer and the same again to their friends.
As you’ve probably noticed from the examples I’ve shown you, huge companies are using referrals to elevate their brand through their loyal and satisfied customers, thus making us understand that referrals can benefit pretty much any kind of business.
I’m sharing with you some gift certificate templates that you might find useful when you start designing the looks of your referral program.
Keep in mind that referrals should be more than just attractive in terms of the value of the coupon, discount, etc.; they also need to be eye catching.
Additionally, these offers and coupons could also be part of the newsletter you send to your most loyal customers.
Author’s Note: To make sure your newsletter reaches the right people, check your email deliverability often and clean up your email list so that you improve your performance.
Moving on to the second to last way of improving your brand awareness.
Method #5: Engage with Niche Communities Online
Engaging with niche communities online might be a nice way for you to increase brand awareness.
To put the term niche community in another way, it’d be helpful to think of such communities as basically being special interest groups.
The moment you engage with a particular niche, you give yourself a loyal and engaged audience that’ll happily interact with your content and most likely buy your products and use your services.
Niche communities help you increase trust between your business and its audience, and it’s profitable.
Engaging with a niche might mean that your website is addressed to people with particular interests and preferences.
For the sake of an example, Synergy Clothing is a brand making ethical, eco-conscious apparel.
Image Source: SynergyClothing
People around the world are becoming more and more environmentally conscious – in fact there’s a big number of people that are getting informed online about how to avoid fast fashion brands and shop more ethically.
The amount of information found with a simple search proves that sustainability concerns a wide audience:
We therefore understand that, for a company that focuses on sustainability and organic clothing, engaging with communities that care about ethical clothing would be ideal.
In Synergy’s case, engaging with niche communities would mean the company tries to engage with micro-communities, on Reddit as well as Facebook Groups, with people that seek sustainable and/or ethical clothing solutions.
That would involve participating in forums, writing threads, and replying to people’s questions.
Having a look at the audience of relevant Instagram accounts like the ones shown below would also be a nice idea:
Image Source: Instagram
This will help an ecommerce company understand the qualities of their target audience and find the most appropriate and effective way to reach out to them.
Below, we’ll be discussing the importance of social ads in relation to brand awareness.
Method #6: Use Social Ads
Last but not least, using social ads is a move that will definitely help you expand your audience, thus improving brand awareness for your store.
This means that it’d be very useful for the growth of your business to set a budget for ads on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.
Why?
Because social ads are one of the most effective digital marketing tactics:
Image Source: Smart Insights
The list of companies creating and using social ads to promote their content and products, thus firing up brand awareness, is long.
Here’s two examples of Facebook ads found on the Facebook Ad Library.
The ads are paid for by Nike to promote the company:
Image Source: Facebook Ad Library
In general, all social media platforms give their users the opportunity to post paid ads on the platform or share sponsored posts through influencers accounts, which can be just as effective in terms of improving brand awareness.
YouTube, for example, is dedicating a landing page on their YouTube Ads service where businesses can promote their products and services.
Image Source: YouTube Ads
From there, many brands have started advertising on YouTube and reach new audiences.
This—and other social media channels you can advertize on—can be really effective in helping you promote your ecommerce business.
You just have to find the ones that work for you and validate them as channels that can help you grow.
Let’s wrap this up.
Now Over to You
In this post, we’ve discussed six ways of improving brand awareness for your ecommerce store.
More specifically, we talked about the importance of social media promotion, social media ads, contests and giveaways, as well as link building.
Additionally, we examined referral programs as another way to expand your audience alongside engaging with niche communities online.
Which ways are you currently using, or considering using, in the future in order to improve brand awareness?
We’d love to know your opinion and experience with brand awareness.
Leave a comment below.
